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Rachel Browne

Parts of NSW with the highest domestic violence rates will be left without specialist women's refuges under a controversial government reform that advocates say will endanger the lives of women and their children.

Analysis of the state government's proposed reforms for homelessness services shows there will be no specialist women's refuges in six of the 15 family and community services districts, equating to a loss of 40 shelters.

The six districts cover 80 local government areas, including Bourke, with 10 times the state's domestic violence average, Walgett, with nearly 20 times the average, and Wilcannia, with 14 times the average.

The Sydney district, which includes Ashfield, Burwood, Canterbury, Leichhardt, Marrickville and the Sydney central business district, will also lose women's services despite some parts having an above-average domestic assault rate.

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Women's refuges in south-eastern Sydney and northern Sydney will also be lost under the proposals.

Sydney University academic Lesley Laing said her findings raised serious concerns about the distribution of resources.

''It just doesn't make sense from a planning perspective,'' she said. ''Some of these areas have among the highest reported domestic violence in the state and there are no services planned.''

Dr Laing likened replacing women-only providers with generic services to ''setting up new cardiac units without employing the heart surgeons''.

She said international research showed that women fleeing violent relationships were unlikely to seek help from a generic service.

''How can that sense of safety and security be established in a generic service?'' she asked. ''These services do everything to help a woman build a safe life. They provide legal assistance, financial assistance ... all the things that women need.''

Sharron McKinnon, manager of a specialist service in Sydney's west and spokeswoman for Save Women's Refuges, said many women would stay in violent relationships rather than seek help from a generic homeless shelter.

''This is not a situation where someone becomes homeless because they have fallen behind in the rent,'' she said.

''This is a situation where their lives are at risk if they stay in their home with the perpetrator. If women thought they had to go to a mixed service they would never leave.''

Lillian fled her home in Sydney's west with her two young children after an assault by her partner landed her in hospital last year. Upon her release, she and her children, aged one and two, were taken to an emergency shelter in Blacktown that also provided accommodation for homeless men.

''I left straight away,'' she said. ''I had to leave because I felt it wasn't safe for me or my children.''

Sue, who lives in a women's refuge in the state's south-west with her four children aged between five and 13, said she could not be around men after escaping a violent relationship last year.

''I was terrified,'' she said. ''If I had seen any male worker I would have kept running.''

The government reforms relate to the structure of tender packages that exclude specialist women's services in favour of generic services.

A spokesman for Family and Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton said the tender packages for homelessness services would be formally announced on Friday morning.